COUNCILLOR TIM CROWLEY BUDGET SPEECH MONDAY 1 MARCH 2010 Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Tonight I am moving a budget amendment setting out our Conservative plans for a reduction in council tax coupled with fully-costed and affordable proposals for a better Borough.
You will hear about our plans to recognise the service of British soldiers and reservists on active duty overseas. You will also hear about our radical plans to give financial incentives for increased recycling.
Our plans for a debit card system for adult social service users for direct payments and independent living will be outlined. We shall unveil a scheme to put residents at the very front of the queue for council services, with preferential rates in leisure centres, theatres and car parks plus discounts in local shops to help the local economy.
But before I lay out our stall for a better Sutton, a balanced budget with our boundless drive to cut costs and to improve services, I need to address two points which have caused no small amount of disappointment on the Opposition benches.
The first is a smug sentiment of self-achievement and paucity in ambition in the ruling Liberal Democrat ranks.
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The second is a disappointing disdain for an attempt to stimulate the debate about the public services Sutton Council provides and the cost attached to them.
To flesh out the first point, I must refer to the self-satisfied comments of Councillor Ruth Dombey at The Executive on 9 February at which she exclaimed, and I quote: “What we have achieved is wonderful, we should be congratulated.�
Oh really?
This sentiment belies the ritualistic backslapping that routinely exposes the under-belly of this Liberal Democrat-run Council when it comes to budget time. Is Councillor Dombey proud of the inherent disdain that is unveiled by her comment?
Her administration is taking residents for mugs by dangling a freeze in front of their noses after 24 years of brutal and relentless increases in rates and council tax; does she really think that residents have memories so short?
This, our Alternative Budget, shows the taxpayers of this Borough that we have the ambition, the drive and the plans to ease the burden on their pockets not only with a cut this year but a freeze for years to come. The simple fact is a Conservative controlled Sutton Council will not cost residents a penny more for years with the help of an ambitious Conservative Government.
That is our offer to residents and we are unapologetic for it. 2
Secondly, we regret the recent comments from Councillor John Drage that he has effectively refused to bother to read our budget amendment over the weekend despite the offering having been made to him.
The cynical disregard he showed by refusing to allocate time to read it shows that he does not take debate about how Sutton Council spends public money seriously. Is this not the same Liberal Democrat Finance Chief who, every year, bristles with Oscar-winning righteous indignation that we have not offered an alternative budget?
Well, the taxpayers of this Borough will remember that perhaps if he had shown a bit more interest in money matters we might not have had ÂŁ5.5million frozen in Iceland with taxpayers taking a ÂŁ1million.
So, what is on offer this year from this Liberal Democrat administration?
Cynicism.
Back-slapping.
And a dearth of ambition.
Madam Mayor, this year the people of the London Borough of Sutton face a very real choice. More of the same from the party opposite or something new, a fresh no-nonsense programme for reduced costs and better services, forged with new ideas. 3
My time in politics has taught me to be cautious, especially when dealing with Liberal Democrats desperate to cling to power. So, Madam Mayor, I shall head one controversy off at the pass. Because I know the party opposite will seek to spin our Alternative Budget here this evening and to twist our words to make it sound as though we are presenting a hack and slash budget. Let’s remember it was Nick Clegg, their leader, who has called for “savage cuts”
We are not.
We are placing the Liberal Democrats on notice that if they misrepresent our budget in their Focus literature to the people of this Borough, we will be unforgiving in exposing that deception.
When the Budget and Associated Matters went before The Executive in early February, Councillor Lynn Gleeson said that “No budget can stand unless based on good foundations.”
I could not agree more. And this Alternative Budget is based on just that. The simple and indelible budgetary principle: -
Does this provide value for money to the Sutton taxpayer?
Madam Mayor, this Alternative Budget does. This Conservative Party does.
I draw your attention to our inserted recommendation that an incoming Conservative Government will literally put its money where it’s mouth is by 4
helping prudent local authorities to freeze their council tax for two years in a row. Madam Mayor – that is precisely what we will do.
The one thing which really characterises this Council’s current administration is its ideological addiction to expanding budgets. Not to forget the weak-knee policy of always blaming the Government for its own failure to ease the burden of the Council on residents, even during the good times as our Alternative Budget states.
Yes, Sutton is a floor authority. Yes, it has had to endure a bad deal on a number of occasions. But this never came as a surprise and it happened over a period of successive budgets and successive years. Why didn’t they adapt? Why didn’t they show the strong political leadership to reduce costs?
It is because they are weak and it’s easier to blame someone else. This Alternative Budget has a set of values which shows that we have the ability to make this Borough a better place without playing the political ‘blame game’.
Meeting the challenges of Labour’s debt crisis does not mean rolling over and resigning ourselves to annual budgetary increases, it means finding the savings, safeguarding the services that matter and driving down costs. This is why we will maintain the existing level of General Fund Expenditure for the years 2011/12 and 2012/13. This called cutting your cloth accordingly.
Similarly, we believe that employees of the Council should be freed up to save the taxpayer money. This is why we have suggested an amendment to existing council policy to allow underspends to carry over into the next year. 5
This will reward departmental budgets for prudent spending rather than the ‘lose it or use mentally’.
Madam Mayor, putting this Alternative Budget together was not an easy task and it has exposed some entrenched weaknesses in the way this Council is run and the lack of political leadership which has allowed these problems to fester.
Anyone here who runs a business knows that contradictory figures do not suit budgets. And this is what we have had to contend with. But in accordance with the sensible principles of fiscal conservatism we have opted for the most conservative figures on two major savings areas – freezing additional staff recruitment and reducing, as a matter of policy and action, this Council’s reliance on consultancy by 50%.
To illustrate the confusion on the cost of consultants to the Sutton taxpayer, figures provided to me in my capacity as Audit Committee Chairman range from £2.1million to £6.7million. I would like this to be formally minuted here this evening, Madam Mayor.
Because we are responsible, because we are conservative, we have budgeted a saving of £1.295m.
There are times when Sutton Council must engage the expertise of outside consultants when the required in-house expertise is not retained - but the notion that a £440million organisation has such reliance on costly consultants is simply unacceptable. 6
We know, Madam Mayor, that some consultancy fees are redeemable in the form of grants from outside organisations, but many are not. What I have found very disturbing is the impossibility of getting a straightforward and definitive answer on the Council’s reliance on consultants – one has to ask why hasn’t Councillor Drage been keeping an eye on this?
What has also disturbed me is that many consultants are paid on day rates rather than set period contracts. As a matter of policy this Alternative Budget proposes to change that. In our view this will reduce costs even further.
In freezing additional staff recruitment, this Alternative Budget proposes that we undertake a full and frank Staff Review assessment. The confusion regarding the cost of consultants has been replicated in the size of ‘the establishment’ – in jargon busting terms this means the size of our staff. Despite our best efforts, ascertaining the correct figures has been a Herculean task. The confusion between vacant funded posts and unfunded vacant posts has prevented us from having even deeper scope for reduced spending. Conflicting data sets arising from our enquiries have prevented us from tabling a more radical budget with scope to reduce the council tax burden by an even greater amount.
Be under no illusions, when elected that it precisely what we will do.
What is clear though - in this muddle - is that it has taken the dogged determination of opposition councillors to ask the questions which the
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administration should have been asking years before, on pretty simple questions like ‘how many staff members do we have?’
Why hasn’t Councillor Drage and his team been asking the searching questions concerning one of the largest spends in Sutton Council, namely, it’s staffing numbers and the costs associated with it.
We need to know. In fact, taxpayers have the right to know. And where there are efficiencies they should be made and saved money passed to the taxpayer.
Councillor Sean Brennan’s foreword to the Council’s budget takes a startling detachment from reality when he says that the Council is working to fulfil its tasks with “less money”. This simply isn’t the case.
Even a cursory glance at the budget booklet shows increased spending across the board. Spend, spend, and spend some more. Budgets never come down in Sutton and when ‘efficiencies’ are made they never make it as far as the Sutton taxpayer’s pocket.
We think this is wrong.
In terms of the capital programme this Liberal Democrat administration has demonstrated its paucity of ambition and neglect through its actions over the last 24 years.
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You can see this from the years of shameful neglect in investing in our council housing leading to the decent homes crisis. You can also see this through the years and years of neglect in our rolling programmes for necessary repairs to council buildings and schools.
And let’s not forget the years of pilfering from the taxpayers’ purse to pursue pet projects such as the controversial Sutton Life Centre and aborted projects such as the skating rink that never was – the Caswelldrome!!!
There has been no real clear strategy or understanding of the savings that could be made from a well structured capital programme. This administration has provided no evidence of comprehension of how skimping on vital council buildings would eventually come back to haunt them. Put simply, when the sun was shining the Liberal Democrats did not think to fix the roof.
Our Alternative Budget makes reference to what we call a Transformation Agenda – that is a root and branch re-examination of what the Council offers to residents, whether this offering benefits them and how the functions of this Council can be reformed, even restructured, to deliver more for less, and more effectively. This will dovetail well with the ambitious work already started by council officers with ‘Smart Services Sutton’.
This takes courage, Madam Mayor, and it takes political will. In short, it takes leadership.
We are ready to provide that leadership and we are showing that leadership tonight with this document. 9
Councillor Howell will tell you about our Armed Forces discount with the Council helping our heroes.
Councillor Pritchard shall flesh out our plans for social services, including a direct payments card to promote independent living and better training for councillors to deal with the changes in social services provision.
Councillor Marion Williams will talk you through our desire to make communications
more
effective,
eradicating
duplicated
efforts
and
streamlining how we communicate with residents – saving the taxpayer a significant sum of money.
Councillor John Kennedy will tell you how to make Sutton Scene a selffunding communications tool with residents. Councillor Faulds is going to show how a Conservative-run Council will look at a variety of methods, including zero-based accounting, to drive costs down.
And Councillor Tony Shields will provide our solid commitment that we will restore the free visitor parking hours for residents living in Controlled Parking Zones, so shamelessly robbed of them by this Liberal Democrat administration.
Finally, Councillor Scully will follow up by outlining our plans for a residents’ priority card and rewarding people for recycling more.
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In conclusion Madam Mayor, this is a Conservative budget with vision - saving the taxpayer money and increasing quality services. We have proposals to cut the Council Tax by 1.75% - driving down Band C Council Tax, back below the £1000 level. Not content with that though, we’re going one step further, and it is our intention to freeze it for three years in a row – something the ruling Liberal Democrats could never bring themselves to do.
This is a recession budget. It is a realistic budget. It is a Conservative budget.
I urge all councillors to support the motion.
Thank you, Madam Mayor.
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